Off the cuff

Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president and Gidderbaha MLA Amarinder Singh ‘Raja’ Warring is in news these days, at least not for good reasons. During his public meeting, held a few days back, Warring who takes pride in being addressed as a firebrand youth leader of the Congress attacked five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a way that even his own partymen could not resist condemning the speech.

Majority of the audience not only in that meet but also those listened to it through Youtube and Facebook found it derogatory and termed it “deteriorating standard of politics.” After finding a campaign against him building up, Amarinder has now come up with a clarification that he was not at all jealous about Badal’s age, rather he would pray that his own age gets added to Badal’s.

Hooda’s SYL love!

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda leaves nothing unturned to prove his loyalty to the cause of Haryana. Therefore, on Sunday when his attention was drawn about Captain Amarinder Singh’s assertion that the SYL should not be allowed to see the construction at all, Hooda said that Haryana has to get its share in river waters come what may. He refused to comment on the stand of Captain Amarinder, also a Congress veteran and PPCC chief. “I am more concerned about the prospects of Haryana than anything else,” he said.

Different Captain

Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, a Congress veteran from Haryana’s Rewari, is happy with the Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, but not with former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kamal Nath, AICC General Secretary and in-charge for the party’s Haryana affairs. Hooda is said to be a good friend of Nath, a Congress veteran from Madhya Pradesh, who is also accused of fomenting riots in Delhi in the wake of assassination of the-then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 which left a large number of Sikhs killed and bruised. No one understands why Yadav keeps sulking all the time when Hooda is holding no position either in the Congress or the state legislature party.

Exposing defaulters!

The state government’s move to bring an ordinance to regularise the unauthorised buildings in HP has left many people high and dry. While around 35,000 applicants have come forward to get their unauthorised structures regularised, many others were either unable to process their applications for the pre-requisites or are simply hesitating. There is a reason for it. Many believe that like in the past during the BJP tenure, people had given their affidavits for regularisation of encroachments on the government’s demand. The government’s decision was struck down in Court and the defaulters were exposed by self declarations and had to face action. “Who knows, it happens again and then we would be in trouble,” shared some worried locals.

A picture of patience

Very rarely does one hear of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal waiting for someone to start proceedings of an event, well it recently happened at Punjab Bhawan Chandigarh, where the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief announced the cheapest power tariffs for small scale industries. The man who had the Deputy CM waiting was state Industries Minister Madan Mohan Mittal. Mittal, who was to accompany Sukhbir, came late to the press conference and kept the media along with Sukhbir waiting.

On his patience’s end, Sukhbir finally called Mittal and asked him to rush to the event as everyone had been waiting for the briefing to start for quite some time. This moment also gave the media to take a jibe at the SAD chief as they started questioning the relationship between the two alliance partners. Reacting to the situation in his own signature style, Sukhbir ignored the questions and started with the presentation without Mittal. However, soon after the commencement of the briefing, Mittal managed to reach the spot and shared the adjoining seat to the Dy CM.

BJP’s ‘new divide’ is obvious

The BJP’s new divide of ‘Dhumal versus Nadda’ in the run-up to the assembly polls in Himachal is obvious. Union Health Minister J P Nadda’s visit to Nurpur in Kangra at a function by BJP leader and former MLA Rakesh Pathania is another pointer. Pathania, who was recently suspended by the BJP Block Unit in Nurpur (which is seen close to Dhumal) with no action at the state level, however, was seen singing hymns in praise of Nadda.

“The state needs a leader like Nadda to fight corruption. Nadda has a great contribution in party’s unity.” Elated over the response of people in Nurpur, Nadda too reciprocated in the same style, saying, “The state and the party needs Pathania.” Something somewhere is cooking up in the party! So, Nadda is tipped to be a strong new rival of Dhumal now for the post of chief ministership in HP, if BJP makes it to power in 2017.

All eyes on AAP list

Political momentum is building up in Punjab for the elections scheduled early next year. In this charged atmosphere, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is catching the attention of all. While other major players are yet in drafting stage, the AAP released its poll manifesto a few days back, though for the youth only. Now, the AAP leadership is all set to come up with its list of 23 candidates for the coming Vidhan Sabha. Most likely, it will be out within two-three days. Though the traditional rivals- the SAD-BJP alliance and Congress-claim to be strong enough, they are all now waiting for the AAP’s list so as to take final call about selecting their own candidates.

Makan-maalik aa gaya, kirayedaar gaye

Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar was at his best, when he was recently announced that he would look after MLA Pargat Singh’s constituency Jalandhar Cantonment seat, as the latter had been suspended from the party. Kohar was asked that Pargat was still an MLA, then how could he look after his constituency. To this, Kohar replied in Punjabi, “Hun Makan-maalik aa gaye hain, kirayedaar nu ta jana hi pau (Now, that the owner of the constituency has come, the tenant will have to go),” he said amidst peals of laughter.

Sampla’s laughing reply on Sidhus

BJP Punjab chief Vijay Sampla is known for dodging queries and laughing to maintain silence on controversial issues. This past Saturday, he was asked to comment on Sidhu couple ie ex-BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu quitting Rajya Sabha and MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s status. Sampla kept on laughing on the query thinking that he might evade it. However, later he said, “Indiscipline will not be tolerated at any cost,” he said.

Saddi gall kaun sunu..?

At a time when SAD and AAP leaders at each other’s throats, the third claimant Congress has its own algebraic calculations to get absolute majority in 2017 elections. Manpreet Singh Badal said that it is not bad to enjoy dreams while sleeping. In Guruharsahai, he said, “Bai, kehan nu ki harj ae jad AAP ayegi tade na… Na SAD, na AAP lokan nu koi vi kabul nahin.” (It makes no difference what AAP says, neither SAD nor AAP are going to form the government this time.)